


Maneki-neko

by Sherr



Series: Strings [3]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Cats, Connor Needs A Hug, Dagger is the best girl, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gavin Reed is an asshole, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Sorry, I'm so sorry, M/M, This starts off soft but just you wait, connor being soft, english is not my first language, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-06-29 11:45:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15728757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sherr/pseuds/Sherr
Summary: Standing on the background, taking on the scenery before him, gave him an advantage point when it came to gaining intel.He learned how to survive around the human, and at the same time he found himself at ease with the situation.He was learning how to survive by himself, not needing his handler anymore.





	1. Dagger

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted Connor bonding with Dagger and somehow it take off to this  
> I'm not regretting anything

Dagger was a tabby Maine Coon.

With a long fur and a sweet, maternal personality, she quickly warmed up at Connor, who researched how to take care of cats just to treat Dagger correctly. How to pick her up, how much to feed her; he quickly became an expert on taking care of cats, and the huge Maine Coon seemed to appreciate the newly gained attention.  
She taught Connor how to approach Gavin appropriately, without exploding the human's rage.

Gavin only tolerated a few things without seeming like a volcano wanting to explode: Cooking, spending time with officer Tina Chen and everytime Dagger was near him. He almost smiled, too, and Connor always had to start a cool down protocol to don't overheat.

It was stupid.

Most nights, when Gavin decided he didn't wanted to take advantage of Connor, the android was on babysitting duty with the cat. It wasn't something he despised, as he liked the cat's company, but lately the babysitting was almost every night and it...  
It made Connor feel off.

For some reason, Connor felt like not wanting to do anything, and at the same time he felt like doing something reckless to gain Gavin's attention.  
So, he did the latter.

He knew the officer wasn't fond of dogs, so getting one of Sumo's pups with the neighbor's dog was out of the question. He was disappointed, too, as he wanted a dog badly, but the last thing he wanted was to make Gavin _too_ angry.  
Glancing sideways at Dagger, who was currently in the middle of her bath, gave him an idea. Idea he discussed with Gavin later, without being too obvious about it.

"Lieutenant Anderson's dog just had pups."

Gavin was in the middle of cooking his dinner, not even bothering on glancing back at Connor when he started talking. Dagger was at the human's feet, looking up at Gavin hopefully and waving her tail slowly.  
Huh, the fish must have caught her attention.

"So I've heard. Old man won't shut up about it." A grunt escaping Reed's throat made a notification pop up in front of his eyes, something about feeling arousal, but he ignored it.

"It made me think, you mentioned Dagger can't have her own kittens, right?"

"No, she's spayed, why?" So far he wasn't suspicious. Good.

"Don't you think she feels lonely when we're both off to work?"

Gavin stopped slashing the fish, giving the cat a small slice which she appreciated with a loud meow. He looked almost apologetically at the cat, before raising his eyes at the android. He scowled, returning to his task.

"She's a big girl, she can take care of herself alone."

His tone didn't matched his expression, and Connor smiled slightly.  
Bingo.

 

* * *

 

One night, when he was drunk, Gavin mentioned having Dagger for six years. He mentioned how he got her –some asshole was torturing her with a barbed wire– and he mentioned that she was lactating when he found her, but that her kittens were nowhere to be found. 

The cat was depressed for two weeks, and everything he could do was being patient with her, petting her slowly when she allowed him to do it and gaining her trust with loving pets and patience. And, on his own words, he was so happy he learned to be patient with Dagger, because she was the best thing that happened to him that year.

After that he stopped talking, dozing off on the couch.

Looking at the cat, that was currently playing with a toy attached to her cat tree, Connor felt something he hasn't felt before. He felt sad for Dagger, because she never got the chance to be a mom, he felt angry at the man that was torturing her –even though Gavin told him he made sure to make the man pay in front of the law, and his fists–, and he felt proud of Dagger, proud of how far she have come. She was a trusting cat now, acting almost motherly with Connor, and it made him feel a strange warm feeling on his chest.

Dagger was something that made him feel at ease on that apartment, and he wanted to return that feeling.

One day, he came back to the apartment with a calico kitten on his jacket.

The kitten was dirty, weak meows leaving her mouth and eyes shut down, her ears pointing down in fear. She was by herself on an alleyway, and of course Connor had to take her in.  
On the way home he bought the things he was going to need to take care of her, making sure to fetch a treat for Dagger that she was going to receive later.

For now, his priority was to make sure the kitten survived the night.

"What the hell?" Gavin quickly noticed the small ball of fur seeking protection on the android's jacket, sending a questioning look at Connor's face. The android's LED flashed yellow for a mere two seconds, looking for an answer that satisfied the human without making him angry.

"I found her by herself on an alleyway on my way home. Her vitals are weak, and I just had to take her in. When she's stable and old enough I can give her to someone that wants a cat. Can we foster her for the time being?"

Gavin seemed conflicted, sending quick glances at Dagger, who was currently sleeping happily on her cat tree. With a loud sigh and a rub to his temples he swore under his breath, walking towards the kitchen counter to take his coffee once again.  
He looked at Connor like wanting to rip his head off, but a low meow from the kitten was enough to soften his expression. Connor also detected his shoulders getting loose and his breath taking a more calm rhythm, which were good reactions.

"Name her Shitbird and I'll consider it."

He ended up calling her Nova.

 

* * *

 

Nova survived the first night on the apartment. 

Her loud meows demanding food were heard at exactly five o' clock in the morning, and Gavin curses were heard short after. When the human came out his room Connor was already feeding Nova, who was sucking off her bottle with newfound excitement. Dagger was sniffing at her, taking on this new and strange kitten that just showed up on the house. Her tail was straight but not tense, and her ears were up on her head. That was a good sign, as she wasn't reacting violently at the new addition to the apartment.

She quickly lost interest in the kitten, making a bee line to her food bowl. 

The beep of the coffee maker made Connor look up, noticing Gavin sleepy stare on him as he poured the hot coffee on his favorite mug. Black, with no sugar; on good days he would pour two spoons of sugar, but considering a cat just woke him up at five am he wasn't about to judge him.

"She better doesn't take a habit to wake me up this fucking early or I might take it off on you."

"Hear that, Nova? Be a good girl and keep waking Gavin at this hour." Connor had a smirk on his lips, and Gavin just groaned, flipping him before sitting down on the dining table.

And so far, everything was good. It was peaceful. It was new.  
... And it was unsettling, but Connor ignored that, smiling down at Nova. 

He ignored the drowning feeling blooming on his chest for this kitten's sake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nova is inspired on one of my cats as she's an asshole and she wakes me up at five in the morning chasing down my other cat


	2. Nova

Nova was a calico American Shorthair.

She was a small kitten, being third the size of Dagger. With the infinite energy of an infant, Nova always found new ways of knocking things off even when she couldn't reach said things. Gavin wanted nothing but scream at the shenanigans the kitten pulled off, but when she curled besides him on the couch and started to purr loudly, any trace of anger washed off, leaving a tired detective nodding off on his couch.  
Connor should be happy, but he still had an uneasy feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. One Gavin knew nothing about.

Connor was usually the one taking care of both Nova and Dagger, but sometimes, when the android was called back at the station for some last minute emergency, it was Gavin's turn to babysit the cats.  
Gavin wasn't against it, as the pair of cats gave him a tolerable company on his self-hate nights, but seeing Nova at the eyes reminded him of Connor.  
The same round, innocent eyes that tried to read the last words his soul had attached to it.

You see, Gavin hated a lot of things. He hated interacting with people that had their heads up their assess, he hated androids and, specially, he hated to feel like someone was pitying him. The latter tended to happen, especially, when he tried to involve himself on a romantic relationship. His partners tended to try and change him, pitying him and his self hate, saying things like 'if you hate yourself like this you can't love me'.  
And, honestly, fuck them. He lived his life as he wanted, he didn't need someone to babysit his every movement. Not even his parents did that when they had the fucking chance, for Christ's sake, why would some random ass people care all of the sudden for him? It was unthinkable of. Humans were such selfish beings.

And so, Gavin got a cat.

Cats were assholes, but they didn't judge you. They tended to leave you alone if you didn't mess with them, and, in return, they gave you love when they felt like it. Sure, Dagger entered his life on a way he wished didn't had to be like that, but the huge and lazy cat was an important part of his life.  
And then, there was Nova.

Looking at her, he listened to Connor's voice again and again, calling the little cat on a ridiculous baby voice and introducing her to wet food, trying to train her to eat on her own.  
He smiled when he saw that, sure, who can resist a cute kitten learning to eat, but then that stupid LED light circled again and again and again–

He was holding a can of beer?  
Not that it mattered, however, as he crushed it for thinking of Connor.

That fucking android, ruining his day even when he wasn't there...

Gavin sighed, walking to the trash can to dispose his crushed beer can.

He owed him a beer.

* * *

Gavin hated a lot of things. 

Androids were the most prominent one, as he professed this hatred more frequently than his others. Whoever knew him well knew that androids were a sore topic on him, and that if they wanted to keep their fingers intact they better not mention them in front of him.  
Now, _interacting_ with them was something completely different.

His relationship with Connor was a complicated one. Not that they even had a relationship, mind you, they had... a companionship, and they both got benefits from said companionship. He wasn't proud of being aware of this, but no one needed to know. It was a secret, one he was going to talk about on his deathbed, and that was it. No ridiculous glances, no awkward conversations, no petty remarks from Hank– just a mere companionship they both seemed to need on the blink of new needs on both of them, as a human and a deviant.

As to why he asked –ordered– Connor to move with him... Not even him knew why. It was the spur of the moment, he tried to convince himself, but it didn't work. There was still an uneasy feeling on the back of his mind, trying to grasp his common sense in a tedious way. It was almost as his mind was _trying_ to tell him he was ignoring something, seeing only half of the picture. It was bullshit. Gavin had complete order of his life, he wasn't ignoring fucking anything, he just needed time to finish the puzzle. Missing pieces were a pain in the ass, but they didn't mean he had no order over his own fucking life. He wasn't seeing half of the picture.

He saw the whole picture, every day.  
And he hated it.

Connor was just a distraction. A distraction of his daily stress, of the bullshit that life tended to throw his way just for the sake of it. He was the closest thing he had to a personal sex bot– which he couldn't get, by the way, because it was illegal now. Something to do with basic rights and the demand of two Tracis that were in love. It's not like he wanted a personal sex bot, anyway, the mere thought made him want to gag.  
He was wandering.   
The thing he was trying to prove himself was that Connor wasn't someone important. He was a distraction, one that he could just replace whenever he liked and feel no remorse about it. Connor was just the easiest one to get his hands on, always so eager to have him deep inside and basically begging him to fuck him raw. It was almost pathetic for an android, beings that supposedly had no needs, to be this needy when it came to sex. Gavin knew it wasn't just him that the fucking android seemed to like; Connor just liked the idea of feeling something. Of being of use for someone in some way. He still had the 'being useful for people' protocol installed on him, it appeared.

Whatever, Gavin couldn't care less.

"Gavin? You were saying?" Gavin blinked twice, apparently having zoned out. Huh, he usually didn't zoned out like that.

"What do you want, Ken doll?" But he wasn't going to be nice to Connor just because of it. Hah, that was a funny thought. He being nice to Connor.

"You were explaining to me why Officer Chen hates Dagger?"

"Oh, right."

That was the thing that triggered his mental rambling about hating androids, in the first place.  
It was a self exploration for another day.

* * *

Nova was needy.

It was understandable, given that she was just a kitten, but sometimes her loud meows were too much. She would always walk up to him, or Connor, or up to Dagger –who had already taken up on the role of a mother for Nova–, meowing loudly and demanding attention, whether on the form of rubs or food. And when she wasn't begging for attention, she was curled up right next to Gavin, purring loudly and appearing to be angelical to someone who didn't live with her.  
She remind him so much of Connor.

It was gross, and fucking annoying.

And that was why he punched Connor in the face.

He didn't even remember why he did it, in the first place. He was just walking into the living room, seeing for a short second that the android was playing with both cats using an animal-friendly laser pointer. He listened to Connor laughing at Nova for rolling in her back when she tried to ambush the little red dot. He smiled at Dagger when she tackled Nova in an attempt to get the dot.  
It was something so trivial and domestic, but then he saw Connor's smile, and the LED calmly circling blue and–

And he just blacked out.

He remembers walking up to Connor, and grabbing him by the shoulder. He remembers the confused face on the android, and the yellow glow of the LED on his temple. He remembers dragging him to the room and throwing him to the bed.

And from there, nothing. 

His knuckles were now slightly painted with blue. Connor's nose was bleeding, and he didn't look scared, just fucking aroused. At some point he took off his jacket, and unbuckled his belt.  
He was fucking Connor. He was choking him, harder, and harder, and if  _he could just die right there_ —  
Connor was moaning. He was grunting. He was thrusting harder and faster.   
Why was he doing this, again? Why was he using Connor again, just as the android had wished for him to do? He couldn't remember his reasoning behind his outburst. Did it had to do with seeing the LED again?

It was the fucking LED, wasn't it?

Gavin lighted up a cigarette, earning a frown on the android's face that he just ignored. He took a long drag, and exhaled the smoke on Connor's face, chuckling darkly at his annoyed face.

Gavin didn't like to ramble in an attempt to soften the blow. He had learned, on his long experience as a detective, that saying things directly was, usually, the best course of action. People tended to appreciate the honesty, and Gavin liked that he didn't had to kept talking to someone and try to get somewhere.  
And he wasn't about to make Connor an exception, so he said what he had to say, enjoying the surprised expression on his face.

"Take out your LED."

There were various expressions on Connor's features in just two seconds. Confusion, anger, fear, conflict.  
And he finally settled with fear. Gavin grinned at that.

"Why... are you asking me?" Connor was cautious with his words, and Gavin was enjoying every second of it. To know that he had him on the palm of his hand, and could basically order him to do whatever he wanted.  
It was delicious.

"I fucking hate to look at it. It makes me angry." For one second he could see Connor considering his words, possibly considering that making him angry would lead to more moments of hate fucking, but it appeared that he eventually elected against saying something about it.

Smart boy.

"If I don't take out my LED–"

"If you don't take that shit out you can leave, and not come back."

He struck a nerve. Connor visibly flinched, taken aback by his words, and his LED flashed red momentarily. He frowned at it, and Connor quickly covered it with his hand.

"Could I just... cover it?" He sounded genuinely sad of having to get rid of the goddamned thing, and for a second Gavin thought of being more merciful. Of conceding him of that little wish, if so just to make him smile and so he wouldn't be sulking around for God knows how long. Gavin legitimately considered to not be an asshole for once.

But Gavin was not merciful, or kind, or a good person.  
And so, he pressed his cigarette against Connor's temple, attempting to make his next words clear.

"Get rid of the fucking thing or get the hell out of here." 

The next morning, Connor handed him the LED, avoiding his eyes.  
And Gavin just grinned, satisfied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 31 of December. :)  
> My wish for 2019 is to finish this series, and Analgesics.  
> Fingers crossed!
> 
> Comments are appreciated!


End file.
